This invention relates to a process for the preparation of 3,7-dimethylocta-1-en-7-ol (dihydromyrcenol) or carboxylic esters thereof.
Dihydromyrcenol is a well known aroma chemical; its properties and preparation by the reduction of myrcenol having been described previously in U.S. Pat. No. 2,871,271. It is also known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,902,510 and 3,487,118 that dihydromyrcenol can be prepared from 2,6-dimethylocta-2,7-diene (dihydromyrcene) by carboxylic acid ester formation and subsequent hydrolysis. While both of these previously developed preparative techniques can be employed in the synthesis of dihydromyrcenol, their usefulness is somewhat limited by the fact that they both employ turpentine derivatives (myrcenol and dihydromyrcene) as starting materials.
In contrast, the present invention is concerned with a procedure for preparing dihydromyrcenol and its carboxylic acid esters in good yield from alternative starting materials which are readily obtained from industrial sources.